Los Angeles Unified School District to require COVID Vaccination.
Can the Superintendent just mandate that?

Earlier this week, Los Angeles Unified School District’s (LAUSD) Superintendent release a pre-recorded video in which he stated all children, and implied all staff, will be required to get a COVID-19 vaccine in order to return to school in person, and that this requirement would be “no different than students who are vaccinated for measles or mumps” and compared students, staff and others getting a COVID-19 vaccine to those who “are tested for tuberculosis before they come on campus.” (Superintendent Update - January 11, 2021 starting at 26:15)

A Voice for Choice Advocacy immediately sent him and the LAUSD Board Members a letter (full text: https://avoiceforchoiceadvocacy.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/AVFCA-Letter-re-LAUSD-COVID-Vaccine-011121.pdf) asking him to retract this statement immediately on legal, scientific and religious/conscious grounds.  If this requirement is not fully retracted, AVFCA asked that it is updated in the following three ways:

- Make the COVID-19 vaccine a recommendation, rather than a requirement

- State religious belief and disability exemptions are allowed, without recourse, per Federal law

- State employees can sign a declination statement, without recourse, per CA state law

Grounds cited in AVFCA's letter include:

Student Vaccination: Per Section 120335 of the CA Health and Safety Code, Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) does not have the jurisdiction to mandate the COVID-19 vaccine for K-12 students.  This can only be done by the California Public Health Department, who would have to offer a Personal Belief Exemption, or through the passing of a law by the State Legislature and Governor.

Teacher and all other LAUSD Employee Vaccination: The ability to decline the COVID-19 vaccine following Cal/OSHA requirements must be offered, as well as disability and religious accommodations per American Disabilities Act and the Civil Rights Act.  Without these accommodations, LAUSD and all the schools implementing this requirement would open themselves up to discrimination lawsuits.

Precautionary Principle: Furthermore, none of the COVID-19 vaccines have been fully tested for safety and efficacy, with clinical trials for the leading two vaccines not set to be completed for close to another year.  While the FDA has authorized the Pfizer and Moderna mRNA COVID-19 vaccines for Emergency Use, these vaccines are still in the experimental phase with no large scale data on the safety and efficacy of either vaccine.  Under the Federal Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act, all COVID-19 vaccine makers are provided immunity from liability for their products.  However, LAUSD and the schools implementing this requirement open themselves up for lawsuits if a student or employee is injured by a required COVID-19 vaccine.
There is also no conclusive data showing that the COVID-19 vaccine would lessen the transmission of COVID-19 within a community, and therefore getting the COVID-19 vaccine may not impact the rate of community spread significantly, and may lead to unknowing asymptomatic transmission. 

While AVFCA is hopeful that this will educate LAUSD and a retraction will follow, unfortunately other school districts and the state often follow LAUSD’s lead.  AVFCA will remain on high alert, especially given the Governor and Legislature are working with LAUSD and other large school districts to re-open schools in the next few months, and given teachers have been moved into COVID vaccination priority Tier 1B, and will likely start being vaccinated in the next few months.

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Together we can make change happen.

C

Christina Hildebrand
President/Founder
A Voice for Choice Advocacy, Inc.
[email protected]
www.AVoiceForChoiceAdvocacy.org